This invention relates to surgical instruments and, more particularly, to a manipulable hand for use in laparoscopic surgery.
Laparoscopic surgical techniques involve performing surgical procedures through a small diameter tube that is inserted through a small incision in the patient. These techniques minimize trauma to surrounding tissue and organs and greatly reduce the recovery period which, in many cases, is due to the size of the incision required to gain access to the surgical site. To perform these laparoscopic techniques, a small incision is made, and a small tube or cannula is inserted through the incision. The cannula constitutes a port through which various instruments can be inserted to perform procedures, such as cutting, suturing and removal of organs. These procedures involve far less trauma in the patient, less recovery time, and the ability to control medical costs generally by the elimination of large incisions on the patient's body.
Laparoscopic surgical techniques have essentially removed the surgeon's hands from the patient's body and replaced them with blades, suture needles, and small crude graspers. In many cases the surgeon needs better, more sensitive control, like that afforded by the human hand. Such control can be achieved by directly using the surgeon's skilled, highly trained hands. However, the purpose of laparoscopy is to reduce the trauma of surgery by making smaller incisions. Such smaller incisions are enabled by providing means by which the surgeon can observe the site of interest and means by which the surgeon may remotely perform his surgical function. Provision of these means avoids the necessity of large incisions due to the need to insert the surgeon's hands into the surgical incision.
In order to achieve the goals of laparoscopic surgery, the means provided as a substitute for the surgeon's hands should be as similar as possible to the real thing. The closest approximations presently in use are grasping devices of rather crude design, and devices capable only of cutting, scraping, or similar actions. All of these are rather primitive compared to the human hand wielding an appropriate surgical tool. Known laparoscopic techniques allow the surgeon only limited capabilities within the surgical site.